


Nightmare

by LostCol



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gap Filler, Light Angst, M/M, early S4 gap filler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostCol/pseuds/LostCol
Summary: Justin has a Pink Posse-induced nightmare.
Relationships: Brian Kinney/Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had this in my QAF folder for… maybe a year at this point? I kept figuring I’d either expand it or incorporate it into a longer fic, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. So here you go!

It’s the middle of the night, and Brian was sleeping soundly until a few seconds ago when… who knows, _something_ woke him up. He hears a strange sound that he can’t really place in his groggy half-awareness, and then he’s jolted fully awake by something crashing into his leg. It takes another fraction of a second for him to realize that the sound is Justin moaning – no, whimpering – as he thrashes, kicking Brian awake.

And _fuck_ , Justin hasn’t had a nightmare this bad in a while. He’s not surprised though; he knew this bullshit Pink Posse vigilante superhero shit would get to him eventually.

Brian rolls over and wraps his arms carefully around Justin from behind, hugging him to his chest. He learned the hard way that Justin’s instinct is to lash out when he’s wrenched from these dreams, and he’d rather get an elbow in the ribs than watch Justin thrash himself into another injury.

(There was the time he couldn’t draw for a week after he smashed his wrist into the headboard, and then a few weeks later he’d flailed right off the side of the bed, and Brian’s heart had stopped as he’d watched Justin’s head miss the nightstand by inches. After that, he said fuck it. Yeah, Justin sometimes panicked when he woke up pinned to Brian’s chest, but it was better than letting him maim himself.)

Wrapping his arms around Justin now, he feels how hard he’s trembling, and in the faint ambient light, Brian can make out tear tracks glistening on his cheek.

Brian rests his lips near Justin’s ear and breathes, “Justin.” 

Justin whimpers and sobs, “Brian,” and grips Brian’s hand where it’s splayed across his chest. But he’s clearly still asleep.

“Justin,” Brian repeats softly, gently leaning some of his weight on Justin, rocking them forward. Justin’s eyes pop open as he gasps awake and then yells in surprise and fright, instinctively struggling against Brian’s hold.

“ _Justin._ Sunshine, it’s Brian. You’re in bed… You’re okay,” Brian murmurs. Trial and error have taught them that if he stays calm and quiet and steady, Justin picks up on that and calms down way faster than if Brian panics, too. Which he may or may not have done a few times in the beginning… to very counterproductive results.

Justin stops struggling after a few more whispered reassurances, and he tenses briefly before letting his body relax against Brian’s. He dissolves into gasping, gulping sobs and pushes his face into his pillow to muffle the sound, and he’s still gripping Brian’s hand, hard.

No, it hasn’t been this bad in a long time.

Brian holds him silently while he cries, making sure not to relax his grip. Again, his good friend trial and error taught him that a tight hold helps Justin feel secure, and that whispered platitudes just piss him off. Best to wrap him up, shut up, and let him cry it out.

Once the sobbing becomes uneven, stuttered breathing, Brian murmurs “tell me what happened.”

Justin’s always been a sharer (never letting Brian have a single thought to himself if he can help it), and as much as he loathes doing it himself, and as valiantly as he tries to dodge Justin’s prying, he knows Justin needs to talk about this shit if he’s going to move past it. 

Brian loosens his arms when Justin shifts to roll over, and once they’re settled in facing each other, Justin places his hand on Brian’s chest over his heart, splaying out his fingers and pressing lightly as though trying to fuse them together. His eyes are still wet, glistening in the moonlight coming through the windows, and he takes a watery, shuddering breath before speaking, his voice quavering and quiet.

“It’s late, and we both have to get up in the morning.” He sighs before continuing, “I’m sorry, I thought I was done with this.” He leans in and kisses Brian on the mouth, just a soft press of lips. “Let’s just go back to sleep. I’ll… I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.”

Brian’s lips curl up into a tiny reassuring smile, and he pulls Justin against his chest without comment. They fall back asleep like that, Justin curled into Brian, his face buried in Brian’s neck; Brian’s arms wrapped loosely around him with his face pressed to Justin’s course, cropped hair.

The next time Brian opens his eyes, the bright light of mid-morning is streaming through the sheer curtains. He looks over at Justin, now sprawled on his back and taking up most of the bed, and watches his chest rise and fall for a few minutes. His face is lightly flushed from sleep and he looks so peaceful, and so goddamn _young_ , like this, and in the bright light of day, Brian wonders if it’s even worth bringing up the dream. They’ve had more than enough arguments about the Posse at this point, and Justin knows damn well how he feels about it, so if it had anything to do with that…

“You died.” 

Brian startles and glances up to meet Justin’s eyes, and it’s only then that he notices the dark circles under them, and the frown lines now crinkling Justin’s forehead. Justin holds his gaze as he elaborates, his voice shaking slightly. “We were attacked. The um… the Posse—" _fucking knew it_ “–and you were there somewhere, nearby. Going out, I guess. And you came over when you saw what was going on, and… you got in front of me. You were trying to push me out of the way, and… I don’t know what happened, I didn’t _see_ it happen, in the dream, but you were… you were dead on the ground, when you woke me up.”

A tear leaks out of Justin’s eye and slips down his cheek. He balls the sheets up in his fists and rolls his eyes up to stop more tears from falling, and Brian reaches out and cups his cheek, curving his body to rest his forehead against Justin’s temple.

“Hey,” he says, nudging Justin’s head with his own to make sure he’s paying attention. “No one’s going to kill me.” Justin scrunches his face up for a second and lets out a watery breath. “You already know what you’re doing is fucking dangerous, and that it’s making me crazy. And… you know I’d put myself between you and any asshole who tries to hurt you.” Brian shudders slightly, both at the admission that he cares – which, who the hell is trying to fool anymore, four years in – and at the thought of Justin truly being in danger, but he forces himself to power through. “But it was a dream, okay? Nothing is going to happen to me—"

Justin huffs out a breath. “Famous last words.”

“–And even if it did, it wouldn’t be your fault. But… you really need to stop this vigilante shit,” he says sternly, pinching Justin’s chin between his thumb and forefinger and forcing him to meet his eyes. He can’t help himself; yeah, they’ve argued about this ad nauseam, but the Posse are being dangerous and stupid as fuck, and he’ll never forgive himself if he just gives up on nagging the kid, and then something happens.

“Brian…” Justin sighs, attempting to roll away, but Brian just rolls with him and puts his hand firmly back on his cheek.

He has to hear this.

“Look, I know I’ve said this before, but you’re not fucking listening, and I don’t know why because you’re usually so annoying precocious, but what you’re doing isn’t just defending ‘us’. You’re going out looking for trouble – pissing people off to _provoke_ trouble – and you seem to think nothing bad is going to happen.”

Justin doesn’t respond, so he sighs and lowers his voice.

“You almost died once. Wasn’t that enough?”

Justin meets his gaze steadily for a few moments, his expression frozen, then he presses his lips together and rolls out of bed.

“I’m going to shower.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are ALWAYS appreciated! <3


End file.
